


Corco's Childhood

by GreyDrakkon (Ranaspel)



Category: Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ranaspel/pseuds/GreyDrakkon
Summary: Corco Andosana's backstory.  She has not one, but TWO tragic backstories!
Relationships: Family - Relationship
Comments: 49
Kudos: 3





	1. Warm memories

"Little Bird, don't fly off without me!" A laughing toddler runs out the carved wooden door, black strands of fine hair swirl through the air as she bounds across the grassy clearing. Her goal is clear, a path leading into the shadowy woods, invitingly cool in the Summer's heat. Fine boned but strong hands fit around her torso and lift her into the air as she giggles. "What did I say about flying, my darling girl? Should I help you get some wind under your wings?" He holds her up, smiling as she flings out her arms to the sky.

***

His voice murmurs softly to her, barely loud enough for her to hear even with them huddled so close together. "Look, my darling girl, see how they strengthen their wings? They practice before they grow up, so they can follow their parents and learn while in the skies as well as at home." She stares solemnly at the nest of fledgeling Ravens and glances down at a lock of her hair, holding it up and looking up at her father. "That's right, they have black feathers. For that matter, blue eyes like yours when they're this young. I think your eyes will stay that way, though.". He looks back at the nest, reciting what he sees in Elven and Common. "Now last of all, Corco, Raven. That's the birds."

"Corco." She whispers, staring at the birds. Her father looks down at her and laughs, startling the wildlife around them. 

"Corco! Fantastic! We need to find your mother!" He swoops her up as he stands, ignoring her peeved expression at the interruption of their forest time.

***

"Sometimes I wonder why I agreed to your Use-name tradition. What if she had said 'Donkey' or 'Toad' instead?" Her mother's words were mocking, but the tone of voice was teasing. She towered above her daughter, swaying gracefully as she held up glass vials in the dim light of the herbal shed. Corco mutely stood holding her father's hand, fingers from her free hand poking into her mouth. 

"Because you fell in love with a primitive scoundrel who would sweep you away from your fancy life of dances and politics." His voice was light, but his gaze was slightly troubled, looking into the past. His wife didn't seem to notice.

"Hm. No need to fish for a kiss with such strong bait, my love." She tilts over the space between them, kissing her husband distractedly while skillfully keeping the vials steady. "Now shoo, I've nearly got this scent complete, if I judge right they'll go wild for it in Iadaran." She mutters to herself as she adds drops of this and that to a bowl on the table. As if sensing her husband's disappointment in her response to his excitement, she glances over her shoulder at him, causing her thick black braid to slide across her back. "I'll make a special cake for dinner tonight, to celebrate." She smiled at her daughter's squeal at the mention of cake and turned back to her work and went back to muttering as her family let her be. "Corco. Hm. Well there's far worse names. Still, I'm glad Lindir agreed to a true name. Should help foil any scrying…" Glass clinks in an unusual moment of clumsiness as her face becomes troubled. Frowning, she looks down and grimly goes back to work. "No need to borrow that kind of trouble. Foolishness."

***

"I'll miss you, Da'dae." Too old now to poke her fingers in her mouth, Corco stands on one foot, the other hooked around her ankle while her fingers twist together. Her father settles his pack over his shoulders and smiles sadly down at her. 

"I'll miss you too my little bird. You help your Ma'mae out while I'm gone. It will be just like before. I'll be gone a while...Maybe a few seasons, but I'll be back."

Corco didn't look reassured. Her memories of a time without her father were dim and far away. Her mother stood stiffly by her, wound tight. "Be careful, come back to us as soon you can." She embraces him, then reaches down for Corco's hand and leads her away. Torn, Corco staggers after her mother as she looks back over her shoulder, and sees her father standing framed by the trees in their home glade. She sobs when he turns away. “I know. It’s something he must do though, he wouldn’t go if it wasn’t to keep us safe.” Eyes filled with tears she looks up. Her mother’s mouth is tight lipped, and her hand is almost painfully gripped onto Corco’s.

“Why?! Who can find us here?!” Her voice is biting, and her mother gawks down at her in surprise. Her normally tractable daughter is suddenly wild with emotion. With a wrench she twists out of her mother’s grasp and shouts. “I hate it! I don’t want him to go!” Spinning away she bolts past their home into the shadowy woods.

Her mother stands in the summer sunlight, breathing a deep sigh and mutters to herself. “I know, daughter. I hate it too.” With a worried expression she looks over her shoulder, gazing sightlessly at the path her husband took away from her. “He’ll...Be back soon.” Her hand creeps up to clutch the carved wooden amulet hanging around her neck. Two birds in flight, entwined.


	2. Waiting

“Gently, daughter. Don’t bruise the blossoms.” Corco scowls at the cut flowers on her lap, loose twine wound around the stems. She doesn’t know how her mother can see what she’s doing, seeing as how she’s tying bundles of herbs into the rafters of the drying shed. The autumn sunlight pours in the open door as her mother continues telling her about the properties of different herbs, where they can be found, and when they should be harvested. Corco listens halfheartedly, hands idle as she looks out the door.

***

Snow swirls through the air as she follows her mother back from the pond. They were lucky today, geese were migrating when the weather suddenly turned bad, causing them to be more worried about finding a place to rest than keeping an eye out for predators. Her mother’s sling had whirled a stone through the air, knocking a bird out of the air with a sudden shock. She listens with half an ear as her mother recites the properties of a goose that's fattened up for their long flight, with its feathers freshly moulted and strong, good for making quills. The door to their cottage opens for then, spilling out warmth and light into the frosty air. Corco pauses a moment in the doorway, looking out and listening to the wind before she shuts it firmly behind her.

***

She stood behind her mother, peeking around her at the strange woman. She was shorter than the few other people she had seen, more solidly built with shorter ears, and strangest of all, her eyes had dark centers like pits, with only a bit of color around it, and white around that. Those strange eyes met her own and she ducked fully behind her mother, clinging to her robes.

"Like I said though, Silarus told me the route he usually follows and told me he'd pay a bit of coin if I could make the pickups for him. Apparently there's been some noise on the forest borders so he's leery of just walking off without seeing what's what, you know? Ah, and he gave me this to pass on to you as well. Said you'd want it for sure." The solid looking woman removed her pack and dug through it, taking out some items like a cooking pot and other travel supplies and laying them aside. Frowning, Corco tried to guess how long she had been traveling. It must have been a while, because whatever she was looking for was buried deep under not only daily-use items, but the kinds of things that are used more rarely. At last the woman pulls out a piece of paper folded in a complex way and stands with a grunt. She holds it out and Corco's mother takes it with a slight tremor of her hand. Clear writing on the center of the paper says "Fenna Andosana"

"Thank you. Please, take a seat by the well and have a drink, I...I'll gather the supplies for you. Corco, prepare a snack for our guest." Gawping at her mother's quickly retreating back as she strides away to the still room, she spins to face the stranger. Her tawny head is bent down, but Corco catches sight of an amused curl of her mouth. Spinning away again she runs into the cottage to escape her embarrassment. Once safely inside, she stops to think. The woman had been traveling all day, and would likely want to clean off before eating. Searching, she quickly dashes some dried wild rose petals and other herbs into a wash basin, and drapes a towel over it before running past the ranger and thunks the bowl on the small bench beside the well before running back inside. By the time she was finished packing a small basket with bread, nuts, and early spring berries the woman had already wiped herself down with the aromatic water.

"Well, you folks certainly know how to make a welcome, 'specially someone like me." She finished drying off her hands and sets it next to herself on the bench. "I can only imagine what treasure you've brought me now." She smiles at Corco, inviting her to come closer.

"It's just snacks…like you how?" Toting the basket over in both hands, she heaves it up onto the bench, then takes the basin of dirtied water and tips it onto a nearby bed of herbs.

"Like me-oh. Ah. A half-elf. Some of the people aren't too keen on us." There is a wry twist to her mouth again as she rifles through the basket that she drops for a more pleasant expression. "Oh! Jam! Excellent!" 

"What's the other half?" The twig of a girl stood a few paces away, casually flicking water off her fingers.

"Hah! Human, that's why my eyes and ears are like this." She gestures to her face, then takes a bite out of the preserves covered bread. "Mmmf! Delicious! Always did have a sweet tooth though. Good thing I'm never stuck in a city long enough to really indulge it. Can't say when the last time I had something so sweet "

"About a month ago."

The Half-Elf paused in her eating. "Uh. Yeah. Almost exactly. How did you know?"

Corco shrugged and sat down on the edge of the plant bed. "The letter. You would have gotten it at a meeting spot. My da said those are usually in towns. It was underneath all your stuff, like, things you wouldn't have needed often, like your raincloak 'cause it hasn't rained for a couple of weeks."

"Phew, you're a bright one alright! Don't use that brain for evil, kid. We'd be in trouble!" Her laugh is cut short by the serious expression on Corco's face.

"Da's not coming back like he said he would."

"Woah, uh, you don't know that for sure. I'm sure he-"

"He said he'd be gone just a couple of seasons. It's already been two, and spring is halfway over. If he was going to be just a little late he'd just come home." She's scowling at this point, and the ranger is saved from trying to figure out how to respond to the strange child by the appearance of her mother. She's carrying a small lidded box with a small lock on the latch. "He's not coming, is he?" Her mother pauses, mouth tight and she shakes her head minutely. 

"No. He's been... There's been trouble, and he's been asked to help." She places the box down next to the Half-Elf and hands her a key on a ribbon. "You can stay the night with us before you head on to Iadara."

"Ah, no, it's early yet, and it's a good day for traveling. Thanks for your hospitality." She gathers her pack, not exactly nervously but with efficient movements, wasting no time to take her leave. A hand lifted in farewell, and she's disappeared into the woods.


	3. Visitation

It was that summer that Corco's uncle visited. She vaguely recalled him from her foggy clouded past, mostly for the colorful display he made and the annoyance of her mother. The means of his appearance this time was sudden, a swirl of something in the air that didn't exist a moment before, a tang of...something, or a sound, or an emotion she had never felt before, and he was standing by the well. She and her mother had been carrying out their dinner to eat in the relatively cooler air of the outdoors and when Corco abruptly stopped moving and stared at the well, her mother also halted and looked in time to see the teleportation. 

"Oh for- Fanathar what are you doing just teleporting here like that?!" 

"Because it's SO much more efficient than Dimension Door! I swear, cast cast cast, tromp tromp tromp, sleep and do it all over again, day after day. Hardly worth the trouble of going through all that work even if I do have the delight of being harangued by my spectacular sister. Hullo Corco, remember your Uncle Fanathar?" The entire time he nattered on he strode over, flicking nonexistent dust from his fashionable clothes. "And also, my, you're not very surprised to see me. I mean, you're surprised to see ME, but not SURPRISED, if you catch my meaning. I was hoping for a good scream at the very least, maybe a goblet dropped in shock." With those words he plucked the vessel out of his sister's hand and took a sip. "Hm. Not bad!" 

"I heard you coming." The girl's words were timed perfectly with his taking a deeper sip. Choking, his teal eyes water as he sputters. Her mother looks down at her, alarmed and trying not to show it.

"You what now?" He says weakly, wiping at his face. "You...Heard me?" Corco shrugs and fiddles with the covered dish she's carrying, seemingly disinterested or unable to elaborate. "Ahem, well." He gives his sister a significant look. "That would be, ah, quite amazing. In any case, it looks like I'm just in time for dinner!"

With a sigh her mother sends her back into their home for another dish and goblet. "Go ahead and bring the wine bottle, too!" calls out her uncle as he helps set their dining space with a flourish. When she comes out, she sees their normally humble ground cloth and wooden plate settings are sparkling with gilt and crystal. She sets the bottle down, fascinated, and touches the glinting rim of a goblet. It's cool to the touch. Her uncle grins at her from the far side of the now ornate fabric, lounging on the ground as comfortably as if he were in the midst of a soiree. "Fabulous, isn't it? All the pleasantness, and none of the work!". He gestures and she senses that *something* again and the layout glimmers into a color scheme of golds and ruby coloring. "Plus when you're done, it all goes back to sturdy clay and wood, no worries about thieves nosing about for that!"

"We don't have thieves out here, Fanathar. Just unasked for guests." She pours herself a drink with a frown while Corco lifts up the silverware, tracing the delicate filigree decorations as her uncle holds his hand dramatically to his chest.

"You wound me, Ulari'Fenna! I bleed!" Corco look up and examines him. "It's a metaphor, lovey, no need to worry about my physical state, it's merely my soul that's been torn asunder by your cruel mother. It's a surprise that she's not gone into the witching business, living deep in the dark woods and laying about with curses as she is." The girl casts a questioning eye to the trees glowing in the setting sun and colorful clouds above them, then looks side eyed at her mother who is dressed in amber robes, green and gold swirled eyes making her a vision out of a fairy tale. Her uncle snorts in laughter and looks to his sister. "Yie! You might hate to admit it, but she has the same way as our dearest matriarch Ollani of making you feel like a fool without even saying a word!"

Surprising Corco, her mother gives her own short laugh in response and fills their plates with food. "I admit she inherited that talent from our line. She can frost your nose with a glare!" Peeved, Corco does her best to fulfill her mother's proclamation, much to the amusement of the adults. Even more vexed, she leaves the meal as soon as she's full to wander off, leaving the siblings to chat but staying in earshot. 

"So, brother, you've decided to visit me this summer day, entirely on a whim?" Fenna's pose matches his now, reclined and holding a goblet in one hand, sipping at the cool wine. It makes her look like she has been transplanted from high society, an exotic flower amidst ferns.

"Knowing me as you do, you know that very well could be!" Strands of his black hair have escaped one of the jeweled clips containing his waist length hair, and he flips it over his shouler, annoyed.

"But it's not." Her eyes are lidded, tone matter of fact.

"No." He huffs a breath. "I won't play around, Fenna. I heard about the...difficulties on the border, and knew your dearest heart would be called to action. Of course, anything I hear about, supreme clan mother Ollani knows -somehow before I even get back home- and off she sends me like one of those, those things that you throw and they come back and you just throw it again!" He waggles his hand vaguely at the description.

"A boomerang?"

"No, a dagger of returning! Please sister, no need to make up words, and that sounds so mundane besides! She barely acknowledged the terrible time I had protecting the family interests, I actually had to repel invading bandits!" He shudders theatrically, but not so much as to tip the bottle he now refilled their glasses with.

"How terrible that you had to exert yourself." She stated dryly.

"Isn't it, though! In any case, it did ah, motivate me to expand on my capabilities of buggering the fuck out, and now I can Teleport, so I have that going for me. Alas, that just means I can be sent out even faster, exhausting myself for the sake of the family. I doubt I shall ever have a week's rest ever again." Sighing sadly for himself and looking at the darkening sky, he starts a bit at his sister's firm voice.

"Fanathar, heed me. I am not to be meddled with. I am of Andosana, not Nareem! I'm no longer Ollani's, or your concern." She stares at him, dim light no barrier to seeing his expression clearly. She's not comforted by what she sees.

"Aren't you?" He muses softly. "Perhaps not, even with such a small representation of Andosana in this territory, it still counts...However." and his eyes look at Corco, who had been sitting so still that she thought she had been forgotten. 

"She's too young to know for sure!" Her mother's voice is angry and something else, afraid? 

"Just so, just so." He says in a conciliatory manner. "There's no rush. Just…" His silly mein sheds from him and a haunted expression comes over him as his gaze looks to the past. "If she does end up going that route, she'll need...Support. Gods, you know how I'd rather not be embroiled in things, but awakening made puberty seem easy in comparison, and our family has a talent for magic." He shakes off his melancholy and gives a reproachful look, reassuming his irreverent attitude. "Aside from that, I was concerned about you both, you know. It wasn't solely our badgering head of household bending my ear that sent me on my way to see how you two fared." Fenna's expression softened with sympathy mingled with uncertainty.

"I remember...And…" She heaves a sigh, looking at her daughter but not really seeing her. "I'll keep that in mind."

***

Fanathar spent over a handful of days with them, telling stories of Iluvatar, passing on gossip about people she had never heard of, and more fascinatingly, performing feats of magic. She would stare, wide eyed as he would gesture with a natural grace and sometimes pronounced in liquid tones words she never heard before, but almost understood. The process pulled to her as much as the results, and even her mother's fretting didn't deter her from seeking him out. Finally, he pronounced one morning that it was time he stopped dallying with them, and return back to civilization.

"The fresh (sweltering) air and charming fauna (bugs) have done their job of fortifying my body, and you lovelies have boosted my morale enough to face the dire consequences of slacking off from family affairs. I'll be visiting you again, after I've been worked to exhaustion again I'm sure." Fenna rolled her eyes but leaned forward to kiss her brother on the cheek. Corco laughed as he lifted her hand with a courtly gesture, planting a kiss on it with a rakish grin, stood and Teleported away. Shaking her head, her mother's wry smile faded as she looked down at her daughter. Turning to her fully, she kneels down and takes her hands.

"Corco, I love my brother, but you need to understand something. He's not to be relied upon." Puzzling it out, Corco tentatively speaks.

"Because he wants to take me away?"

"He... Doesn't exactly want to, but he might have to. It's not that though, it's just in his nature. He's flighty, and...Easily influenced by the family."

"Nareem." She had only heard the family name once, but committed it to memory when it had such a strong emotional effect on her mother.

"Just so. I'm telling you this, because...One day I'm sure you'll have to at least meet them, and I know you're strong enough to keep true to yourself. They will try to drag you in, to make their problems yours, and it will be very tempting, because they can make the rest of your life so much easier...Fanathar is very charming, but not very strong willed, and he can be easily manipulated into doing things he normally wouldn't want to do." Dark blue eyes cast down in thought.

"He's telling them about us, isn't he?". Her mother smiles sadly.

"Undoubtably, but we don't really have to worry about that right now. Soon enough your father will be back and things will move on." With a rustle her mother stands and prepares herself for the day's errands. Corco watches her and muses over the wording her mother used...She didn't say things would go back to how they used to be. Uneasy, she followed in her mother's shadow the rest of the day, unusually clingy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picture Fanathar somewhat as a cross between Dorian from Dragon Age Inquisition (black hair, stylish, Noble family) and Evee's brother from the Mummy movie (aimless, vaguely harmless if given his choice in the matter).


	4. Ill Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where we see another member of the family

The rest of the summer passes uneventfully, rare visitors come through either by chance or schedule. Each time she spots someone, the young girl's heart leaps, and is let down again. There is a growth spurt, throwing her into a temper as she has to re-learn how to move without smacking a hand into a cup or overshoot while running on a path, but the compensation of being able to reach higher shelves does please her. An evening is spent with her mother rubbing soothing herbs onto her muscles. 

"I remember this stage, some Elves are lucky and grow gradually, but it looks like you've taken after me. I remember how my muscles would twitch and burn. The worst is the bone ache, but it passes soon enough." Her fingers knead her daughter's arm, gently pulling and stretching the tense muscles in her forearm. 

"Did your ma'mae do this with you? Is that how you know how to fix it?" A rustle as her mother shakes her head no.

"I used to have a nanny that tended myself, she used to care for Fanathar and I...She was very sweet…" She drifts on bittersweet childhood memories. "My mother withdrew from the outside world, even her children. I never really knew her, not like Fanathar did."

"What about your da?" She's lolling against her mother, sleepy from a day of helping with the endless work to maintain their home and keep herbal supplies in stock. She feels her mother's chest fill with air as she breathes out a gust of air, and she moves on to manipulating her daughter's hand. 

"He died when I was very young. I... Don't think he was a very good person. Your Uncle remembers, some, and doesn't like talking about it. There are many secrets in the Nareem household, and I never had patience for such. That's why I ran off with your father." She smiles and gives the hand she's working on a last squeeze, then picks up the girl's other arm.

"Will I be as tall as you an' da?" Her voice is drifting.

"Undoubtedly. With the way you're growing, I wouldn't be surprised if you end up taller than me, I think he stamped his height onto you." Unseen by Corco, her mother's smile wavers. "I wish he could be here to see this. He'll be so surprised when he sees you." It takes her a moment to realize her daughter has fallen asleep in the careless manner of the young. She kisses her hair and lifts the twiggy form to put her to bed.

***

"So you see, there's no cause for disturbing things, I mean, yes the girl will likely be some sort of mage, but she's a tiny thing yet, all latent abilities and childish mind, nothing to worry about-"

"Oh do stop blathering, Fanathar. I'll age a decade before you're done talking, and I don't have so many of those left that I can spare them to listen to your inanities." The ancient matriarch of the Noble house of Nareem groused at her great grandson from her padded chair, dwarfed by her massive study desk. She irritably waved away his florid apologies and told him to go do whatever it was he did with himself when he wasn't being a nuisance. As he left her Chambers she outwardly ignored his nervousness, but marked it. How interesting that he's trying to defend the child from her attention. She really thought he was beyond caring for anyone beyond himself, if even that. He always had been an erratic child, and the damage his father had wrought had scarred the boy, and honestly, a Sorcerer? She couldn't decide on if she should blame her grandson for causing such trauma that it knocked her great grandson out of a promising future of wizardry, or if it was an inherent weakness, passed on from his weak-willed mother. 

She frowns and fiddles with the quill on her desk. Blank parchment lies waiting before her, barren of words. 

It vexed her to no end that her great granddaughter, that foolish boy's sister, had abandoned her ancestral home. She had been a promising one, some actual spine to her. She likely wouldn't have ever been a truly powerful Wizard, but there is more to manipulating power than just intelligence. Having the emotional fortitude to do what needs doing, and knowing when to do it, that's what's needed. Unfortunately the girl had a deeper stubborn streak than the matriarch had guessed, and before the girl had grown much beyond childhood she had started...Brawling, like a common thug! She realized too late that her reaction to that was exactly what the girl had wanted. It seemed like a sound plan, sending her away to get whipped into shape, surely she would realize how good she had it in the city instead of going out galavanting with crude soldiers in the woods. She supposed that's one of the drawbacks of getting so old, she couldn't remember what it was like to be young and hot blooded, not that she had ever particularly suffered from that affliction. No, not that, but perhaps sending her out to mingle with young warriors wasn't the best laid plan. A handsome foreign Elven man, and a wild elf at that. Spicy, is what he was, and what girl could resist a taste of danger in a man? By the time she had recalled the girl it had been too late. That wild Elf, that Andosana boy, he had come into her home and stolen the girl, truly barbaric. 

She had been furious at the time, and even more so when she found out that the filthy beast had tainted her bloodline with, not even common blood, but _wild_ blood! And how absolutely distasteful that the girl had to be fertile at such a young age. Still, it ended up being fortuitous. Elven children are rare, and even two fools such as they knew how unwise it was to risk life, limb, and future child to the uncertainty of travel. So It was easy enough to convince them both that she was beaten, no reason to completely flee their country and go all the way to that horrid place, that abandoned land of Varisia. She allowed them to think she had given up on getting back her great granddaughter, and permitted them to settle down in that cozy home. After all, what matter was it if she whelped here or there? Either way she was still hers, and if the child ended up being useless like its father then it could be simply left behind with the brute. Of course Ulari'Fenna would be convinced that it was better to leave the child with its father, nothing like disappointment with one's progeny to make you realize what's really important. But of course her blood had proven out, she honestly shouldn't have doubted that even a filthy outsider could ever dilute their heritage. Black hair, just like those true born to the family, and magical talent. 

Now, how to get her closer? Sending that buffoon of a great grandson had been a calculated risk, but he's charming and would be good at disarming any notions that had been put into the child's head by her thieving father. The timing was good, too. Both of the girls (she couldn't help to think of anyone under 400 a "girl" or "boy" at this point) would be lonely after she had managed to arrange for the wild thief to be sent running all up and down the borderlands. Just a few words in the right ears, my, what a talented ranger, left untapped! What a skilled sneak, how could he not be used to help protect us all? And if he should happen to fall while defending them...But the bastard has thus far been proven to be resourceful. She couldn't be so lucky that he would fall off a cliff and end her problem the easy way.

She taps the quill against her thin mouth. There's an idea. Not now, of course. Not so soon after they had gotten a visit from a family member and any connection could be made, but...Well. She did know how to be patient, and how to move the pieces about. It would be no hard thing at all to agitate things a bit more on the border, and then let her agents on both sides know that there was someone out there that would be pleased to see a certain man by the name of Andosana gutted. So pleased that there would be an appearance of gold in return for spilled blood. Yes, that would get the trick done.

She dips the quill into the waiting inkwell, and black letters form like gashes, malintent writ out by the satisfied head of the House of Nareem.

***

Seasons pass, sometimes with letters passed along to her mother, which she reads aloud once the messenger has moved on. She knows her mother isn't reading everything to her, and figures at least some of it is mother-father stuff, but she's pretty sure she's not being told about how bad things are where her father is. She overhears bits from travelers sometimes. Curses at Humans, or bandits, or raiders. She tries convincing her mother that they should go find him, but her mother smiles in that infuriating way that adults have and tells her that they can't leave, that he's doing important work and will be back with them soon. One of those times she got so mad she threw a wooden bowl to the ground and it lit on fire. They had both stared at it, stunned, and she babbled apologies as her mother overturned a bucket on the mess to suffocate the flame. They didn't talk about it, after, mutually agreeing to ignore the scorch mark on the floor. 

It wasn't too long after that when she got that funny feeling again, the one that she had gotten when...She looks at the well, and there is her Uncle again. This time he isn't brushing off dust from his clothes, even though they're covered in filth and ash. She can see him staring, and he sees her mother and he's saying he's sorry, so sorry, just like she did when she lit the bowl on fire, and her mother is screaming, screaming words at him that don't make sense. What do you mean he's not coming back? How can you possibly know? Corco's voice is a whisper.

"I said he wasn't coming back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh you want angst? I gotchyer angst right here.


	5. Spiraling Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Much angst and travel.

Her Uncle stayed the night. He looked horrible, drained of magic and shaking. Her mother was rage embodied. At first Corco thought she was quiet, sitting in their kitchen, her head in her hands and knees on her elbows, unnaturally still. But then she realized that her mother was still screaming, just not with her voice. She was screaming with her soul. Or she was, until Fanathar, after banging a cup against his mouth, spoke again. 

"Fenna, I wasn't close enough, I only found out from the rangers-"

"You _were_ there, though." Her voice was almost unrecognizable, raw sounding, like she had shards of glass in her throat.

"What? Yes, I mean, I was with the family's caravan, we knew it was a risky move, going through that area but we didn't know it was that volatile, troops had just been moved there and-" he almost falls from his chair as Corco's mother lunges up out of her seat.

"YOU WERE THERE BECAUSE SHE SENT YOU THERE!" Her mother towered over her brother, fists clenched as angry words spilled out. "You are so damned blind and just, just make excuses for that horrible old woman! It would be just like her to arrange you to witness Lindir's death!"

"What, so I would come tell you? Fenna, do you realize how that sounds? Do you really think she's been plotting since, ah, for over sixty years, and arranged to have Lindir to join the rangers, something that he had done after you two met, mind, AND arranged for a skirmish to break out in that specific area, on that specific day?" Corco noticed his eyes flick at her during his plea, but was too numb to piece together what it could mean. She sat by the empty hearth, arms wrapped around her bony legs.

"Yes! No, I...I don't know." Her mother's shoulders slumped in misery. "I don't care. I told you, Fanathar, I'm never going back to that horrid place, and I'm never talking to that hag again, even if he...I'm an Andosana, and…And I need to tell my family that one of their own is dead." She sits with a graceless thud back into her chair.

"What, in Varisia?!" He sounds horrified at the prospect.

"Yes." She tilts back her head with her eyes closed, tears leaking from under her lashes. "I can't stay here, I…Just can't." The misery is palatable. Their kitchen which had seemed cozy all these years was suffocating now.

"Well then...I guess we're going traveling." His voice sounded weak, but didn't waver. Her mother looked up at him from her hands.

"What do you mean, "we"?"

"Oh honestly, of the three of us here I'm the only one who's left these woods, never mind the country! And you know…". He waggles his fingers. "Magic. I can just Teleport us there, you can go find your barbaric kin, and…." He eyes the dangerous thinning of his sister's mouth. "We can just take it from there. No need to spend months travelling, braving the inner sea, pirates, bandits, monsters, bad weather and all the other sundry unpleasantries that the great big world consists of." Fenna stares at him like she's never seen him before and shakes her head slowly.

"I…I'll make up a bed for you. It's late, and I want to…" She glances around the place she has called home for over half a century. "To get things ready tomorrow." Fanathar nods and knocks back the remaining liquid in his cup.

Soon after Corco's mother guides her to her own bed. She rarely shared her mother's bed anymore, but tonight they clung to each other and fell into the dream state while weeping in the dark.

***

As it turns out, they did end up on a barge, but only after they were in Varisia proper. There was a disorienting experience of standing outside the only home she had ever known, breathing in the scents and feeling the light, then, cacophony. She's frozen at her mother's side, and they're somehow in a glade made of stone, filled with more people than she's ever seen, and there's no sky even though they're in a glade and the trees are also made of stone and there's no leaves, there's no wind, there's no sky, it's all stone.

"Shhh, don't worry, you're okay." Her mother is an anchor by her side as she trembles wildly, terrified by her inability to process her surroundings. Suddenly her Uncle's face is in front of her, cupping her face so all she sees is his gently affable face.

"Corco, look at me, your mother and I are here, we're all in a Teleportation chamber, we'll go outside in a bit and see if we can't find a ferry North." Her gasping breaths slow down and she focuses on him. They were inside?

"But it's so big…" Her voice is barely audible, but he's close enough to hear her clearly. His expression flashes to a remorseful look for a moment before he's back to his usual "Fanathar the ridiculous" persona that he favored. 

"That's right, it's ludicrous the lengths some will go to make an impression, myself excluded of course. All my efforts at making an impression are done with tasteful skill and result in just the right image. Here, let me carry you." She nods and puts her arms around his neck, hiding her face under his hair as he stands. She hears someone approach them and hail her uncle. They both speak so quickly back and forth that she has trouble understanding them until she realizes they're speaking Common. Even then, she just gets a few words from her muffled shelter.

"----you---time--hearts---" Says the coarse voice. Her uncle replies in his usual tone, juggling her a bit.

"----niece----later,---drinks---now, we---North, to Crying Leaf." A snort is the response, and she wonders if the leaves are crying because it's raining, or if they make their own water.

"That --water? Why-----?" Her Uncle clears his throat and she feels him shift before he replies with a single word.

"Kin." The stranger seemed satisfied with that answer and led them out of the room after shaking her Uncle's hand. There is a lot of walking, with sounds changing as they move from the large echoing space to tight hallways, and she notices a strange smell in the air, something tangy and sharp as they finally get outside. Peeking from her shelter, she's flooded with so many colors, so many sharp angles and bright light, and the noise! 

Voices surrounded her, shouting, laughing, snarling. Animals she never heard before add to the cacophony. Birds wheel above them, making mewing noises, dogs bark, horses snort and whinny and donkeys bray. The tangy smell is now overwhelming as well as the stench of sweating people, cooking food with strange seasoning, paint and buildings. She buries her head back against her Uncle's neck and squeezes her eyes shut, trying to focus just on the feel of him walking, her mother's voice, her own breathing. Eventually everything is muffled again as they enter another building, and after feeling her uncle climb some steps a door shuts behind them.

"Right then, here you go Corco! We're staying here tonight." She's plopped onto a strange bed that moments before had been musty, but the wash of cantrip magic from her Uncle had cleansed it. "I'll be back soon, my rumpled lilies. Don't wander, this town wouldn't survive you running loose in it." Her mother snorts and waves him out of the room. When he leaves, she stares at the door for a while, face troubled in thought.

"What if he doesn't come back?" Green and gold eyes meet her own, perturbed. 

"He'll be fine." The child draws her knees up under her chin and gets a stubborn look to her face.

"You don't know that! There's strangers everywhere, and they could kill him! Or hurt him and throw him in the water! Or -"

"Corco, stop." Her mother walks over and sits on the bed next to her, resting an arm behind her daughter's back. "Fanathar, as silly a tit as he can sometimes be, really does know what he's doing. I'll tell you why he's going to be fine. For one, he's been here before. You saw how he was greeted, right?" Still frowning, the young girl nods. "He is good at making friends because he, well, he's good at making friends. But more importantly, he also knows when to give bribes, and he gave some money to that man to let him know that he doesn't want any trouble, and that man will spread the word. Do you understand?" A nod. "Secondly, Fanathar is quite experienced at knowing when things are about to go bad, and he's very good at keeping his hide intact. Then third, he really is a skilled mage, always has protections up, and you saw how he can get away, right?" This time a firmer nod, and a general unclenching. "So there, don't worry about him, you can see for yourself how very unlikely it is that he would get in trouble, and if he did, then he has contingencies." She ends that with a squeeze, and they sit for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Sooner than expected, there is a knock on the door and Fanathar is back and babbling about how they're in luck, there's a ferry they can squeeze on that's heading upriver at fifth bell.

***

To Corco's confusion, the Common word for "ferry" sounded an awful lot like "fairy" and she couldn't find a single thing they had in common. She disliked the look of the dark water surrounding it, and the smell was even more intense here, a mix of strange mud, rotting fish, and that pervasive tang. She sneezed and clung to her mother while looking mistrustfully at the whole thing. It was big, and flat, and people were bustling all over it. Mostly people that were compact with rounded shapes and earthy colors, except flashes of brightness on their skin of something that looked like painted patterns. When she saw their eyes, she thought back to the Half-Elf ranger she met once and the strange eyes she had. They must be Humans, then. Or something close. In any case they seemed strong, hauling kegs and crates on board, all moving in a way that reminded her of birds flying in the air in a whirl, somehow never hitting each other. 

Standing near them were a few other people who were also waiting to board. She had to peek around her mother and Uncle to see them properly. They were all humans too, dressed in traveling clothes and light armor. One man had red hair and wore a sword with an orange cloth tied to it, he spotted her and winked. She could hear him chuckle when she darted back out of sight. Eventually everything was on board and they were waved over by the frowning Captain. 

“Ahhhh by Gozrah's tits! When I heard it was you back in town I said 'Mac, surely that's not the very same braying jackass Fanathar that's paid for board on my vessel that we met before!', an Mac there said 'Fraid so', but damned if I didn't think he was a liar. What the hell are you doin' here, you cheating bastard?" 

Somewhat perturbed at the discrepancy between the words, attitude, and tone (while storing away all the new words she was learning) Corco's eyes flitted from the two talking, to her mother, and the surrounding Humans. Everyone seemed to be at ease, so she supposed it was just another form of her Uncle's japery, except everyone was playing along. After a bit they exchanged some quiet words, and everyone was allowed to board.

***

Corco hated the barge, a feeling which her Uncle seemed to share.

"I will not suffer this trip sober, untouched, and/or with my funds intact." he declared the first evening. Her mother scuffled briefly with him to take most of his money away, but in the end she won out and he left grumbling and somewhat rumpled. When he returned some time mid morning, he was even more rumpled but seemed to be in a better mood, and spent some time telling her a story about magic and adventure, using illusions to illustrate the tale. Her mother watched with half her attention, as if she had heard the story before, but others on board the ferry gathered to listen. Her Uncle switched to Common so more people could understand him, and at the end of his tale Corco was startled by the gathering clapping their hands. He bowed, obviously pleased with himself until one of the mercenary types scoffed. 

"I heard that tale afore, but way I heard it told, the whole thing went tits up and the treasure had to be abandoned." A couple of his companions were egging him on, but Corco noticed the red headed fighter leaning back against some stacked cargo with a grin.

"Oh, well there's an easy explanation for why you heard that version." Everyone was quiet, waiting to hear what he said. Corco's mother looked out over the water, concealing her smile. "You heard it from some short lived and even shorter memoried Human." Some of the people laughed, some jeered, and one fellow that seemed to know him well pelted him with a crust of bread. Laughing, he fended it off. "You think I'm jesting, but it's the truth, after all, I was there."

"Oh go on! That was at least seventy years ago!" The same heckler as before piped up. Fanathar gave a slow grin.

"Yes, and I was a young punk then, I admit. But if you're truly doubting my word, take a look at something else that was there." With that, he pulls a small dagger out of its sheath and holds it up by the blade, showing off the symbol on the pommel that was mentioned in his tale. While the heckler got a pummeling from his mates, Corco gave a skeptical look to her mother, who responded in Elvish. 

"It's good to question anything your Uncle spouts off about, but yes, he really was there. She nods in response, and watches as the red headed warrior gives his companions a couple of friendly slaps and tells them to stop pestering the Sorcerer before they get themselves turned into toads. 

The distraction was nice, but as soon as it was quiet again Corco found herself staring at the murky water. How It could be so blindingly bright on the surface yet stop the light in the first few inches made her deeply uneasy. She found herself remembering how her father had taught her to swim in the crystal clear eddy of water near home, warmed from the long summer days. This water was repulsive, and she was sure you would get sick if you drank it. She spent the next several hours, miserable and silent, staring at nothing but her memories alongside her mother who did the same.

***

The place they disembarked seemed like it was the wrong side of the river. A day ago, Corco breathed in the Eastern wind and tasted the green air of woods. When she asked one of the barge workers if that was where Crying Leaf was, he gave her an odd look and commented that no, that direction held a bad place, and that the Mierani Forest was on the other side of the river. She felt disappointed, and tried to catch sight of the trees. She kept watching that side, breathing in the air that reminded her just a bit of home, eyes watering from the bright light on everything and her memories. So when the barge slowed she was taken by surprise, looking around to see them pulling in to a low dock. Her heart thuds when she sees people that look like her, tall and rail thin, catching the ropes that the barge workers toss to them and fastening them to the cleats on the dock. They call out in Common, and the barge people reply in kind, calling out instructions and greetings. As soon as they're fixed to the dock the passengers disembark, the group of warriors leaping off first and hauling their equipment with them, leaving space for the three Elves to step onto the wooden planks. Corco feels a jolt of recognition, the Elves looking at them look familiar. Their skin is the same light amber tone as her father's, their clothing like his, even their bearing, except their faces are stiff and cold as they look them over. She can feel her fingers creeping up to her mouth, even though she was far too old for such a habit.

After a moment, Fanathar gave one of his fancy bows, stepping forward and introducing them in a complex and fanciful way.

"Oh Fanathar, please cut that city nonsense out. They don't need to hear about how great you are." Her mother has come back to herself, and steps forward. It strikes Corco how similar they look side by side, and how differently they're dressed. She and her mother's clothes look far closer to these Elves, although it also shows just how different their coloration is. Her mother's words seem to break their stiff silence though, and one of them steps forward.

"I apologize for the reaction, we weren't expecting ah, travelers from so far. I am called Helannet Eberralan, hailing from Crying Leaf. What brings you so far from your home?" The woman gives a dip of her head in greeting, holding her arms out with hands open in a peculiar gesture. Corco's mother mimics the movement, and responds after taking a breath.

"No offense taken, if you take none from my brother, Fanathar Nareem. I am called Ulari'Fenna Andosana, and my daughter, Corco Andosana." The group's attention sharpens at the family name, and she feels their eyes examining her again.

"Relatives, then? How unusual to have never met before now. Are you distant cousins perhaps?" Helannet's voice is still courteous, but a prickly note is underneath it. She can hear one of the barge workers griping about the wait and an exclamation as they're given a slap to silence them. 

"Cousins by marriage, carrying sad news of the fate of Lindir." At her father's name the group relaxes with understanding and some looks are shared between them.

"In that case, we welcome you as cousins and will escort you to Crying Leaf so you can tell the tale there." She gestures, and suddenly everyone is moving, helping the barge workers load up the goods from the barge onto the empty wagons. 

Later, Corco is sitting in one of the wagons, watching as everyone gets sorted out for travel. Apparently the warriors were expected, and have horses waiting for them. She can see how Helannet and the red headed human (who she heard called Azani) take charge of their groups, keeping them moving until everything is packed up and everyone is in place. Nobody seems to mind their ordering them around, probably because what they say is sensible, although remembering some of the arguments on the barge, she's not sure if sense can be counted on for most people. Finally, they head out at a smart trot, and the sensation of the wagon makes her want to jump out but her mother keeps a firm grip on her as if reading her mind. Displeased, she settles down on a sack of grain and endures until they stop for the evening.

***

It's not until two days later that they see the forest, and the way she looks at it has one of the other Elves laugh and say that maybe she is one of them after all. None of them had been unkind to their group during the traveling, and would talk to them during the periods where they were able to walk alongside the wagons, giving the horses a cool down. As it turns out, Azani could speak Elvish, along with a language he called Vistani which he claimed was more proper for the region they were in. That kicked off a lively discussion on the history of the land, with the Elves claiming they had been there first, while the humans argued that by their own admission they had not only left the land, but the world entirely and therefore couldn't be that serious about their claim on the land. It went back and forth with no clear winner, except all agreeing that the Chelaxian Empire was horrible and made it a moot point in any case since their invasion had irrevocably changed the way things were.

The level of relief from all the Elves (with the exception of Fanathar, who still looked generally uncomfortable surrounded by wilderness) was palatable when they entered the dimmer light of the forest. The humans for the most part didn't seem too affected one way or the other, at least not until it started to get dim out and they made noises about stopping for the night even though there was plenty of light left. They were reassured that they were nearly to the town, and not to fret in a teasing way by one of the Elves. 

As they were told, they soon pulled up to a gathering of homes, placed amidst the trees. It reminded her of her home and suddenly she was weeping again, laying in her mother's lap and wishing she was still home and that her father was still alive.


	6. Departures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter before a major change.

The mood was somber as the animals were unhitched and the group of humans were ushered away. A group of the Crying Leaf Elves had gathered to help with the wagons, but stood by uncertainly with the miserable trio standing before them. Helannet went to them and spoke some words which had them scatter into action. One man with silvery green hair stepped up to them and said he'd show them to a place they could rest, and they walked a gently lit path. The smell of green plants was everywhere, but also whiffs of an acrid tinge that were unexpected and harsh. The man introduces himself as Halarani, and speaks quietly to them, telling them that in three days there will be a gathering. He seems sympathetic, and bids them a good night after showing them into a small wooden hut that was pretty much a single room. 

"He knows, everyone knows, why are they waiting to say anything?" Her voice is loud in the small room, and both the adults jump. Her mother eyes her in a dark way, not exactly disapproving but getting there.

"It would be rude, Corco. They're giving a chance for the word to get out, so L-...So they can call in relatives to hear it in person from us. They're also giving us a chance to rest, and tomorrow we'll eat with them."

"Hopefully their food is better than their living quarters." Her Uncle grumped and tossed his travel pack to the floor, sat on it, and pulled a large bottle out of the small pouch at his hip. Having seen the trick before, Corco ignored him and set her own pack down. Her mother eyed her brother thoughtfully.

"They weren't expecting us, and…" She sighs. "It's not like they know us. In any case, you had best share that if you value your fingers." Tossing her pack down next to his and settling down, her mother reaches over and plucks the bottle from her brother, pulling out a cork and taking a sip. Corco eventually drifts off to the sound of the adults talking softly and passing a bottle back and forth.

***

The days pass slowly, especially when the adults become snappish with each other. Everyone seems off balance, which makes her mother's words more biting, and her Uncle more annoyingly dismissive. Apparently they weren't supposed to really interact with the residents aside from casual words, so Corco spent most of her time wandering the village. The strange smell kept drifting in and out, so she finally decided to track it down, purposefully walking towards the rank smell instead of avoiding it like she had been. It didn't take her long to find the cause, although she didn't understand the significance of the brighter light until she saw the decimated trees and houses. The trees looked like they had been wounded, pieces of them missing and riddled with gaping holes. The ground was covered with their leaves, dropped by the dead plants. When she looked at the homes, they were the same, except smashed apart like a massive club had blasted through the rotted wood. 

"Careful, girl. Most of the acid is neutralized, but it's still not good to breathe in." Blinking in surprise at the intrusion, Corco glances around. She had been observing the wreckage so intently she had completely missed that the red headed warrior Azani was standing nearby. He was speaking in Elvish, and she replied in kind.

"What did this? A monster?" He makes a noise in assent.

"Yeah, a nasty one too because it's intelligent. Green Dragon. They breathe acid, and are smart. A bit strange because greens can usually be reasoned with, but I wasn't hired to figure out why it attacked." His arms are folded as he leans back, eyeing the damage much the way she had. "Looks like it breathed acid and then slapped the buildings with its tail." 

Corco looks again, then steps out into the woods a bit, craning her neck to look up, then away. 

"It was hiding in the trees first, up there." She points at a large branch with gouge marks on it. "Then it glided down, so as much acid would land on as big an area as possible." Her hand followed the arc of trajectory. "Then it landed there, crushing that fence, and charged…" She takes a shaky breath as she realizes what the dark stains on the ground are. "Then it swiped its tail, knocking down those walls, and flew away…"

"Hey pretty good, kid! You planning on being a Ranger when you grow up with that kind of tracking skill?" She stares at him and takes another shuddering breath, then whispers.

"No." His smile drops and changes to a concerned look.

"You alright? You're not hurt, are you?" She thinks about it, and nods. He watches, baffled, as she ambles away.

***

The gathering is finally held on the third evening. It's gently lit, Corco supposes it's for the sake of the Humans who are attending since there was plenty of light to her eyes. There is talk about the Dragon's attack, and hunting it down, and how the group of five humans will help them kill it once it's been tracked to its lair. Everyone seems to approve, and the Humans leave to prepare for the morrow. After a few more things are said, the same elder who showed them to their hut, Halarani, speaks up.

"We have someone before us who wishes to speak of the fate of Lindir Andosana." He steps aside and gestures to Corco's mother, who takes a breath, and fists clenched, stands.

"I bear the tale of Lindir, my husband, who stole me away from my city home." A few people smile at that, eyeing her tall strong form. "He gave me a child, and raised her with me. He defended our home, and...And died defending it from raiders. We have come, as Andosana, to tell you of his life being removed from this world, and would have you remember him with us." A murmur goes through the twilight crowd. A woman steps forward, looking sorrowful.

"I share this vile news with you, cousin. Lindir's sister, Seanthia, was slain by the Dragon who attacked us. My sorrow, for adding on to your burden." Corco could see her mother's fists tighten as she bowed her head in acknowledgement. At that point, bottles of strong drink are brought out, and those who remembered Lindir told stories about him in a much more casual manner. She heard about his childhood, and the places he loved, and the trouble he got into with his friends. She stood there, hands also clenched into fists, hating that other people were telling her these things instead of her father himself. 

When they get back to the hut, it is late and all three of them are in rotten moods. She's withdrawn and surly, her mother wound tight, and her uncle is pacing with nervous energy after looking vaguely ill the entire time they had been out. 

"Fanathar, would you stop? This place isn't big enough to handle you." He glares at his sister.

"You're right, it isn't. This is a one jackass town, and I exceed the limit." She watches her mother close her eyes and thud her head back against the wall with an air of exhaustion. 

"I am not blaming you." Her voice is thick, emotionless. He stops his movements abruptly and looks at them both with a sickly look on his face.

"Maybe you should. Maybe I...Maybe you're right, and I could have done more. Or less. Or. I don't know, but I can not stand being here another night. Let's go back, Fenna, please?" He looks pleadingly at her surprised face, losing hope as her expression shutters and she shakes her head. 

"I told you, I'm done with that place." Her expression softens. "Fanathar, you didn't have to come this far with us, it was unexpected, and there is no reason for you to stay. They've officially accepted us as kin, and you don't have to worry about us. Besides, Ollani will be expecting you back." His mouth is a hard line at her understanding tone, and he looks away.

"You two will be safer without me knowing exactly where you are, after all I can't blab about something I don't know the answer to." The last is said bitterly, and Corco's mother looks guilty a moment. He sighs, and reaches into another pouch, holding something out to his sister. Questioning him with a look, she holds out her hand and he drops something that looks like a small glass bubble into her hand. "If you need me for…" His eyes slide over to Corco, then back to his sister's face. "...whatever reason, just pinch it like so, with these two fingers, think of me and say what you need to, it can carry a few sentences to me." He takes a deep breath and steps back. "Goodbye lovelies, try to be merciful to these poor fools who have taken you in. I'm sure I'll see you again some time." With a bow he steps back again into a coil of warped air, and disappears. Corco and her mother look at each other, then sit down, one arm around the other, quietly thinking through the night.


	7. Restart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey this one isn't depressing for a change! Ok just a bit, but he gets over it.

They stayed in the village a while, but it quickly became obvious that they were uncomfortable there. It didn't help that there was the constant reminder of a Dragon's ire in evidence, making everyone wonder if it would return to finish the job. Eventually her mother discusses it with Halarani, letting him know that she has certain skills that could be useful to Crying Leaf, but she needed space to work and access to different herbs. After some thought, he rounds up Helannet (who it turns out was his granddaughter) and tells her to guide them to the old Druid's cottage. As they walk through the woods, she tells them about their new home.

"It's not too far, not even half a day's easy walk North. The Druid was a Human, nice guy, he died oh, about ten year ago of old age. We didn't let his home fall into disrepair, it seemed disrespectful with all the work he put into it and we thought maybe another would come to replace him some day. It's nicely concealed, too. He may have been a Human, but he knew how to work with the land like an Elf. Here it is! Are you sure you two will be alright out here by yourselves?" The pathway they were on was nearly invisible from any distance, the trail was recessed so the foliage concealed it and brushed back into place when walked through. The natural looking clearing had a small hill with a wooden cottage built into it, nearly concealed by all the vining plants growing over it. A small shed was nearby, surrounded by plants that could be called a garden in the loosest sense of the term, in that the plants had been purposefully placed there but not in a controlled manner. It was more like they were all growing together of their own accord and it just so happened to benefit any passing animals, including themselves. 

"Don't worry about us, this looks wonderful! If you like, come by in a few days and see how we're doing. I'll probably have something ready for Crying Leaf at that point." She takes the hint and nods a farewell to them, saying she'll see them again soon. With a sigh, her mother places a hand on her shoulders as they both look at their new home. "It won't be the same, Corco, but at least we have a private place for us, and kin nearby. We won't be as isolated as before, that wasn't good for either of us. Come on, let's get to work." Together, they explore, and make plans on how to make it theirs.

***

After several weeks, their home is transformed. It's still wild, but now it's lived-in, cared for. It was like it had been waiting for someone to come back to it, and pleased about it when they did. Long days were spent exploring the surroundings, learning the trees, the terrain, the animals that lived busy lives in the summer days. Her mother took over the shed, transforming it into a still room. She still made perfumes, but more often than not she made dangerous things, chemicals that would flare and burn, sachets that would release a powder to cause sleep in the non-Elven, bottles filled with a sticky substance to entrap. Some of it was to protect the village, but some would be sent to the port for sale or trade.

It was early in the morning when Corco found the body. It wasn't a complete surprise, she saw the signs of something that had crashed through the woods last night, and that acrid whiff of acid, like from the area that the Dragon had attacked, hinted to her what she would find. Still, she felt a jolt when she spotted a familiar form passed out, barely concealed under the verdant foliage. She froze for a second, crouched and peering at him. Red hair. He moaned, jolting her into action. Practically flying with her haste, she made it to her home, yelling for her mother.

"Ma'mae! It's Azani! I found him, he's hurt!" She's in the still room and nearly drops the vial she's holding. Her mouth firms, and she starts gathering materials with both hands.

"How badly is he hurt? Is he unconscious? Labored breathing?" She swiftly makes several concoctions as she asks her questions, moving so quickly they're almost packed into her satchel before she hears the answers. 

"Hurt pretty bad, he's knocked out, but he made a noise. His breath sounded kind of bubbly." They both move quickly, ducking branches and darting around trees, leaping over deadfall. Her mother had no trouble keeping up with her, and when they arrive she can see that Azani had dragged himself further into concealment.

"Azani, listen to me, I'm here to help you. I need you to drink this." Her mother reaches down and draws in a quick breath. When Corco peers around her, she can see the fighter has been sprayed with acid, half of his body is covered with it, including his face. It looks like he had either tried rinsing it off or just fell into a creek, because most of it was washed away, but the damage was horrible to see. Her mother reaches down with one hand, tilting the man's head by lifting the undamaged side of his face, and thumbs open one of her phials. "Try to drink, I know it hurts, it looks like you breathed in some of the acid mist, but this will help you. Drink." She pours the contents into his mouth, a little at a time. He nearly chokes on the first draw, but the healing effect takes hold, soothing his throat, and he swallows the rest on his own. Another potion is given, and he slumps into unconscious relaxation. Corco looks at her mother, worried. 

"The second infusion was a sleeping draught, I can't heal him enough right away for him for this next part to not be painful for him, and this way he won't feel us moving him. I'll need your help, find me two saplings, longer than he is tall. We're going to have to carry him back home." As she speaks, she's drawing out a sturdy cloth from her bag of holding, as well as some bandages and a jar of salve, which she applies to his face. 

Slowly and with difficulty they manage to get him through the woods, which seemed to be doing their best to snag at them and make things difficult. There were places where her mother could drag him easily, the poles stirring up the rich humus of the forest floor, but there were places where Corco had to help lift the end of the travois over a log or a small creek, and she was grateful the injured man was asleep because she wound up thunking her end to the ground more than once. 

Finally they made it home, where she rushed to open the door as her mother lifted the heavy human and staggered into the house, managing to lay him more or less gently onto the spare bed. The rest of the day is spent divesting him of his armor, stabilizing him, preparing a round of tinctures to apply to his skin, and draughts to pour down his throat. Her mother never faltered, or dithered. She just went from one step to the next, commenting to her daughter what she was doing at each stage and why. Finally, they sat down at their table, exhaustedly picking at their food.

"Will he be all right?" She hadn't liked seeing this particular man wounded as he was. She remembered he had talked to them when they traveled, and seemed to be unusually thoughtful for a Human, or a fighter. 

"He will survive, although he likely wouldn't have if you hadn't found him. Well done, Corco. You helped save a life." She smiled at her mother, warmed by the rare praise. She spent the rest of the evening watching the Human, tired, but pleased with herself.

***

"I, the dread swordsman, see you have come to contest my claim on these lands!"

"Yeah, I have, and you can't stop me!" She bounced in front of him, stick waving in front of him.

"Oh you think so? Have at thee!" His stick thwacks against hers, the vibration tickling her hand so it flies from her grip. "Aha! I have you now, hero!" She stands before her enemy, open handed, then dives into a roll, coming up by her stick before he can turn to face her. 

"You can't stop me!" She shouts as she brings her stick up and pokes him lightly on the side.

"Auuugh, I am wounded!" He mock staggers, then straightens up. "Seriously though, nice kidney shot. I appreciate you not giving a good jab there, even with a stick that would smart." She smiles and catches his stick as he tosses it to her to put away.

***

It had taken over a month for Azani to get his wind back. His wounds healed at a faster rate, but her mother explained that the longer wounds are etched onto a body, the longer they take to heal, even with magic. Apparently he had been stumbling through the woods for days after their failed attack on the Dragon. He knew for sure that two of his party were dead, and another two had been injured and fled with him. They had gotten separated in the confusion and darkness, and it was pure chance that he even went in the direction of Crying Leaf. He had tried to leave when he had woken up, claiming he needed to find his team, and that the Dragon might follow him. Her mother hadn't let him, of course, but she did send Corco to the village to let them know what happened.

They had already known, since they had sent a small party with the Humans. All the Elves had made it back safely, it was only the close range Humans that had gotten hurt. The two surviving humans had thought the rest of the team was surely dead, and had already left to go back to Riddleport. She ran back to let them know what had happened, and Azani looked stricken. "They...Left me." Corco's mother looked sad, and sent her out to give him some privacy as he lay there looking at the ceiling.

After that he was quiet, although he did tell her that it looked like she was stuck with him until his lungs healed up enough to travel again. With her mother's care, they recovered, but after she pronounced that his chest sounded clear, she gave him a critical look. 

"You might be able to walk around without gasping for breath, but the scarring on your sword arm will make it hard for you to earn your way, and I hate leaving a job half done." He looked at his damaged hand, and conceded that his grip wasn't what it should be. That led to days that had him practicing outside, usually after her mother had kneaded healing ointment onto his arm and hand. Using a stick while going through forms reminded Corco of the spell casting her Uncle did, with the precise movements and stances. Seeing her watching, he had asked if she wanted to try it, which led to their play-fighting.

***

It seemed like there was always an excuse for him not to leave. There was something else that needed healing, like his face, or the weather looked bad, or he was building something as repayment for the care that was given him. That suited Corco, since he proved to be a good teacher for sword and bow, patient and thorough, explaining the why of things instead of just barking at her to do it like she had seen sometimes with other people at the village. As he recovered fully, he accompanied the Elves to the ferry to help escort their goods, which developed into a routine. Any time something needed doing in town, especially where his extra weight and leverage would be of aid, he would be summoned and he would cheerfully complete the given task.

This continued through the winter, although in the autumn he made noises about leaving again, which her mother shut down by saying she needed the extra help with clearing away the inevitable snow, and besides it wasn't like he was in the way, with them having a spare room and all. He thought about it, seemed to be about to say something, but shrugged and continued eating his meal. He took it seriously though, and the next day started gathering firewood from fallen trees and dragging them to their clearing. The sounds of a chopping axe had her mother come out of the still room to see what the noise was about. The late autumn sun was unusually warm, and Azani had stripped his shirt off a while ago. He set the log onto the chopping stump to neatly split it and Corco darted in after each section hit the ground to stack them to the side. She looks at her mother, who doesn't seem to be doing anything except watch the axe chopping. At one point he stops to take a drink and notices her too. He smiles, and suddenly her mother's face is bright red.

"Are you burnt, ma'mae? You're all red." Her mother makes an exasperated noise and Azani turns away, laughing behind his mug. 

"I'm fine, just, hm. Overheated." She seems awfully amused to be overheated, but she shrugs and goes back to helping Azani with the firewood, who seems to be really enjoying all the chopping.

***

A year passes this way, an easy flow of seasons, a new normal. Azani tells them about his family, filled with cousins but no close relationships after his parents had died while he was a youth, and he had gone adventuring to make something of himself. She told him about her father, and her mother told him a little of her family, terrible secrets and an ill mother while growing up.

They get to know each other over time a little better, and everything seems to reach a comfortable point for all of them until on a hot autumn day her mother is unusually restless. Annoyed with the constant motion, she leaves her mother to her pacing inside and steps outside, squinting in the bright light. She spots Azani approaching, carrying a trio of freshly caught freshwater fish. 

"Your ma' inside, Corco? I caught supper, was thinking it would go nice stuffed with herbs." She nods and crouches down by the doorway, leaning her back against the stone, content to stay out of the way. She can hear the pacing stop when he enters, and listens to the sounds of him rinsing off in the kitchen. 

"Azani! I...You need to go." What?! Incredulously, she looks inside, seeing an expression on his face that probably matches her own. "No, don't go. Oh, _balls_." Now he looks cautiously confused, and is reaching for her shoulder.

"Fenna, are you alright?" He looks like he's ready to step away at the first sign of her taking offense, but instead she laughs somewhat desperately. 

"How do you feel about being a father?" He stares at her for a long moment.

"In general, or right now?" She doesn't say anything and he looks even more uncomfortable. "I, ah, was joking there…"

"I wasn't. Look, I know this is horrifically bad timing, and out of nowhere, but Elves aren't like humans, we...Women are fertile maybe three or four times in our lives, we can't control when it happens, it just does, and…" She takes a shaky breath. "It's happening, and I was hoping I could have given you more time to decide, because I do really like you and I love how you are with Corco, and I think you are a wonderful man, but if you don't want this to happen you need to leave _right now,_ because this is-" Then he's kissing her, and Corco is taking a long walk, thinking about all those long looks that had been happening between them with the strange silences. 

Huh. She wondered if she would have a brother or a sister.


	8. Zavion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This took me way too long to write, probably because it's disgustingly sweet.

It was a boy, as it turned out. A lanky babe, with a shock of fluffy red hair. Azani was ecstatic, taking turns between solicitous tending of her mother, to doting on the babe, to lifting Corco in the air and laughing like a maniac. It would have likely been sweet to anyone watching except for the frantic pace that he switched between the three of them. He finally left off with Corco after she had enough of his antics and told him to calm down, it's just a baby. 

"It's not just any baby, Corco, it's your little brother! You're a big sister now!" She looks skeptical as to whether this is as great a thing as he's implying, but leaves him to his euphoria without further comment. She makes sure to keep out of arms reach and takes a longer look though. His hair is downy soft to touch, a coppery red like his father's. The ears are a strange blend of Human and Elven, wide at the bottom but pulled into points like a Birch leaf. His eyes are strange, like a human's with black centers that changed size, but surrounded by a brilliant green disk. His skin was pale, but…

"He has spots!" Azani laughed and came over.

"They're called freckles. See, I have them." They were sprinkled across his face and on his arms, she had noticed them before but put that in the "things Humans have" category. To see them on someone connected to her was disconcerting. 

"It makes him look like a...flower." She had been about to say "toadstool" but thought better of it with the narrow eyed look forming on her mother's face as she spoke. Instead she made her laugh, and got a kiss on her head and a squeeze from her mother's free arm.

***

"Zavion, come on, walk to me! Come get the berry!"

"Corco, your brother isn't a pet, stop trying to train him." Her mother chided her, most of her attention on sifting through plants, separating their parts and bundling them with thin cord. 

"But it's working! See?" She bobs the enticing fruit just out her brother's reach, luring him into taking a few staggering steps. "See? See? He did it! Oh you're not supposed to squish it, Zav!" Azani looked up from his mending with a smile.

"You've gone and done it now, Corco! He's never going to stop hustling! Ah, by the way Fenna, is this ah, on schedule?" They both pause their motions, giving each other one of those looks that says they're saying things that they think she shouldn't hear, which just makes her work at the puzzle of their reactions. "I mean...I've never been a father before, I don't know if there is much difference between him and Corco…" Her mother forces a smile, while Corco frowns. Differences? There's lots of differences between them. He's just a _baby_ , for one thing.

"Yes, he's...Elven babes grow at about the same pace as Humans until pre adolescence, I couldn't imagine having to change diapers for twenty years! He...Will likely develop at a slower rate than you're used to once he's around ten or so." She looks distraught for a barest moment, but Corco sees it and looks at her brother, who is currently sucking on his fist. 

"How old am I, Ma'mae?" Her mother blinks and thinks it over. 

"Let's see, you were born nearly a month before the summer solstice the year I left home, so...Sixty two." Azani stares, not noticing the fabric dropping out of his hand. 

"S-sixty two? I'm…" He stops talking, looks at her mother, then starts laughing. "I'm not even thirty! Fenna, you cradle robber!" Her mother looks put out and pelts him with a bundle of herbs. Dodging them he swoops up behind her, holding her tight and laughing at her protests until she spins in his arms. 

"If you want to be really traumatized, I'll tell you how old I am. I could be your grandmother. Maybe even great grandmother, if your line were in a hurry to get breeding each generation." She seems to be enjoying the discomfited look he has. "Come on dearie, give granny a kiss!" 

They're both definitely not going to say anything interesting at this point, so she steps behind Zavion, holding his hands above his head and walking him out the door to play outside while ignoring the tussling behind her.

***

"Corco Corco Corco! Catch me!" Small legs pumping, he leaps as high as he can, trusting her to snatch him out the air and setting them both spinning. "Keep spinning!" He's giggling and she's whooping as they spin out of control and end up rolling on the grass. A throat being cleared nearby has them both jumping to their feet. Helannet stood nearby with one of the other Elves from Crying Leaf, a younger man that was one of the ones she remembered seeing train in town. Helannet looked amused, but the youth looked like he had sat on nettles recently from his expression.

"Corco. We're here to fetch Azani and get supplies from your mother. They're in?" She nods and gestures to their home.

"They're both inside, getting stuff ready." 

"In that case I'll let them know I'm here. Jeth, stay here. It shouldn't take long." She walks off and the children stare up at the young man, who's standing awkwardly while trying to look important.

"I'm Zav." He beams up, always ready for a new playmate. Corco looks at him far more suspiciously. Jeth looks away, not responding. "Can't you hear me? Can you talk? Are you from Crying Leaf? Will you be guarding our mom's stuff? Do you know how to use that bow?" The youth's hands tighten on his bow, jaw clenching. Corco glares up at Jeth.

"He can hear you, he's just not talking because he's rude. He's from that stupid town filled with stupid rude Elves, and he can't guard anything because he barely knows how to use that bow!" Heated, her words get louder as she speaks, nearly ending with a yell. Jeth finally looks down at them, visibly offended. Zav just looks at her, wide-eyed and wondering at her virulence.

"I'm not rude! How would you even know anything about my town, living out here with your pet Human! And it's not worth my time to learn the name of some little half Human that's just going to drop dead of old age before he's not even two centu-uff!" He's cut off mid word by Corco slamming into him, her weight barely has an impact but her bony elbow rams into his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. He's bent over, trying to gasp in a breath as she pummels at him, yelling. Whooping, her brother dives in and starts punching a thigh as Jeth tries staggering away. Finally he gets in enough breath to start yelling back. 

"Get away from me, you little halfbreed lover! At least Shelalu's mother didn't end up breeding with a short lived-" CRACK. 

"JETH. Not Another Word." Corco didn't think he would be able to say anything after the slap he received from Helannet. "Get back to town, and tell Azranno to meet us since you acted so disgracefully here that you can't be trusted to go on a simple trading run. Now GO!" His eyes watering, he spins on his heel and flees. Helannet sighs, turning. "He's young and full of his self-importance, this was going to be his first time out...Ah, your daughter is smouldering."

She felt overheated, especially her hands which had been hitting the big jerk. Her mother was in front of her, grabbing onto her hands, and hissing in pain. 

"Corco, calm down." She stared at her mother, shaking from adrenaline and anger, not really seeing her. "Come on, let's get your brother inside, he's covered in grass stains. Let's get him cleaned up." Letting out a deep breath, she wobbles in place, and nods. Sliding her hands out of her mother's, she reaches for her brother. 

"Come on Zav, it's time for a bath." He grips her hand, excitement forgotten as abruptly as it had started. She can hear Azani speaking behind her, concerned.

"Let me see, love."

"I'm fine, it's nothing a potion won't fix."

"Does that happen a lot?"

She can't pick out anything after that, but she looks down at her unmarked hands, and thinks about how her mother's looked like she had grabbed a hot kettle from the stove.

***

"Corco, look what dad bought me! A book!" She perked up. Zav had been deemed old enough to accompany their father to the port city. He has pleaded with her to come with, but remembering the last time she had been there she demurred, and told him to bring her back a surprise. A book was a very good surprise indeed.

"What's it about?" 

"Varisia!" Oh. "And magic!" OH. "When we were on the way back on the barge I was able to read a bunch, well I skipped a lot, but look!" He flips the book open to pages filled with strings of runes. "See, if you're a mage, and, um, some stuff here I don't understand, but then you tattoo these using special inks, and it can give you powers!" She leans over, interested.

"Well, it does look right, but I'm not really a mage. And I'm not really Varisian, I wasn't born here." He looks disappointed a moment, but brightens.

"You're basically a mage though, you keep doing stuff by accident, and I heard mom and dad talk about you having to get trained at some point. And you might not be Varisian, but I am, and I'd be the one doing the tattooing!" She stared at him, processing what he had said. Training? They couldn't think of sending her away, could they? Or maybe...Wait.

"You're going to be the one tattooing?" He beamed, green eyes gleaming.

"Well you can't do it yourself, it will go all the way down your arm!" Couldn't argue with that. "Come on, there's instructions on how to make the dye and tools! Let's go find it!" 

Between the two of them it takes almost no time to find the materials. A quick use of the still room to purify and condense the special ink, and it's bottled and ready for use. Soon, they're set up in a sunny clearing to get the best light and they begin. As it turns out, getting tattooed hurts, and there are a lot more runes that go into it than it initially looked like.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No, I want you to pay attention!" Sweat is beaded on her brow and she's feeling vaguely nauseous, but she clenches her jaw and collects herself. "It says in the book that it's part of the process, and it shouldn't be interrupted if possible."

"Don't worry, I'm only talking when filling in the part I outlined, I won't mess up. Remember, I'm good at drawing."

"This is different!"

"Yeah, and I won't mess it up. Maybe I should put some freckles on you to match me after this is done. Red hair with red freckles, black hair and black freckles."

"That's not how those work, and I won't hold still for it anyways." She stares out into the woods. "Maybe this will help…"

"Mmf. Maybe, or maybe you'll have a head start on everyone else if you go to an academy. I heard about those, they have libraries! Can you imagine an entire room just for books!" She glances at him, his eyes are focused on his work but his face is soft with wonder.

"That sounds nice, but...I don't want to leave." He makes a rude noise in response.

"Why not?! It would be an adventure!" She scowls. 

"I don't like adventure!" 

"Well too bad, because right now you're making your own. I read up on that too, you know, so it's no use pretending. Your options are to either stomp all your magic down until you get boring and forget how to even try, or you actually get trained and find out what kind of a mage you are. Or go crazy and let your magic burn you up." 

He pauses to wipe away the seeping blood and grins at her. "I bet you'd be a Wizard, you can't do anything without planning it to death. Unless you're mad that is. But even then I bet you plan out worst case scenarios, like 'if I explode where can I stand to make the most people covered in my goo?' or something." 

"Ewwwww……...But yeah." She sighs, and thinks about her options. She didn't want to leave her family, but she also hated how out of control her flare ups were. The ones that happened were just the obvious ones that everyone else saw. There were others that just sometimes happened, like glimmers of light moving along the ground, or a branch moving out of her way before her hand touched it. What if she could do it on purpose? What if she could be in control instead of it controlling her?

They fell into a comfortable silence after that and by the time he's finished, her arm feels like it's on fire. Then their mother steps into the clearing. She looks at them for a moment, about to call them in for supper. Then she sees the book, the tools, and the blood. 

"What are you _doing?!_ " She strides forward, almost grabbing Corco's arm but stopping when she sees the state of it. "Both of you, inside!" 

They burst into the cottage, looking guilty and terrified, making Azani raise an eyebrow from where he's standing at the stove. His other brow joins it when he spots Corco's arm. 

"Is that…" The door slams behind Fenna and she drops the book on the table before walking over to the cupboard where the healing kit is stashed. 

"You two! Sit!" Zav had been trying to stealth into their room and came to a cringing halt. Creeping back to the table, he glumly seats himself across from Corco, who is stiffly upright opposite from him. "Look at this! You could have given your sister an infection!"

"We sterilized the tool-" Zav protests then snaps his jaw shut at the glare his mother gives him.

"Wait, that's a tattoo?!" Azani gawks from where he is, and ambles over for a closer look. Once again his eyebrow goes up. "Varisian tattoos? You're lucky you didn't get nonsense permanently put on you, that's one of the things I've seen happen, people do write fake things and hope nobody notices." The youths stare at him, horrified, and Fenna starts applying a salve, thin-lipped. He waits a bit, letting them think about it. "Fortunately that's the real thing." He steps back to the stove, ladling soup into bowls to hide his expression. 

"Azani, don't you dare find this funny! Don't think I don't know where they got that book." She starts winding gauze around Corco's arm, starting at the top and ending just before the elbow. Corco stared at the floor, stony faced while her brother kept looking between the three of them. Azani brought the bowls to the table, setting them down with a loaf of bread. Her mother finished tucking in the last tail of the bandage.

"There, it should heal clean, but why would you do such a thing, Corco?! It's not like it will do any good, and now you're marked for life-"

"It might! It might help! And it's stupid to pretend I don't have magic, and I don't want to pretend anymore!" She's glaring at her mother's stunned face, who looks like she's thinking of yelling right back.

"Well then, in that case we'll have to talk about what we do next, right Fenna? How about we eat first though." His sensible manner made it hard to stay prickly, disarming them as easily as he would if they held swords. They all settle down, Zav eagerly pulled his bowl over to him and dug in, while Corco and Fenna seated themselves more comfortably while warily sizing each other up for the upcoming argument. As dinner went on, Corco became more and more withdrawn until finally she shoved off from the table and ran outside.

"Corco!"

"Let her go, Fenna, tomorrow's soon enough to talk about it."

She ran back to the glade they had been in earlier, stopping in the center and breathing hard. Her decision has been made, and discussing it wouldn't change anything. She took out the small glassy looking bubble that she had removed from its hiding spot a week ago. She had known that things needed to change, and in what way. Her brother had only clarified it. She held up the bubble just so, and crushed it with her fingertips.

"Uncle Fanathar, I'm ready to be a mage now.'


	9. Transitive Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Corco has to actually face the consequences of wanting to leave, and we find out Fanathar actually does have a few standards.
> 
> Warning, next chapter is going to be unpleasant.

She stood in the clearing, waiting, then wondering, then looking around.

°°Ooouph. Hold on, I'll be right there.°°

"What?" She looks around then realizes she had heard her uncle's voice in her mind as clearly as if he had been standing with her. She waits a bit more, then walks over to the stump she had used earlier and sat down on it to wait, kicking her heels against the bark. A blur in the air, and suddenly her uncle is staggering into the glade in front of her with a wand in his hand, looking around and reeling a bit when he spots her. 

"Corco, there you are! Where's your mother? Did something happen? I thought...I dunno what I thought, but maybe that there was an element of urgency to it." His arms flop to his sides, and he looks baffled. 

"Oh. Um. Not...I can't stay like this anymore." She was sitting still and beginning to feel foolish.

"What, you're not running away are you? HAH! If there was ever a question about you being your mother's daughter, that right there would put it to rest! But seriously, you're not, are you? Running away that is." He wobbles in place, takes a few steps forward, then sinks down to sit in front of her.

".......No? Yes, I guess? Is there a difference between running away and just leaving?" He's acting stranger than usual, and she's at a loss as to how to respond. This isn't going like how she thought it would at all. 

"Well, for one thing you say goodbye. Can you imagine what would happen to me if I took you away from your mother without letting her know where you went to? Do you think I'd actually do such a thing?" His voice wavered on the last question.

"No!" She brought her knees up to her chin and brought both hands to fist her hair and hissed as she lifted her left arm.

"What's that, are you hurt? Wh-ooooaahh hah hah, no wonder you want to run away, how did you manage to tattoo yourself?!" He was leaning forward and almost faceplants before he shoves himself back to a seated position.

"I'm not, I didn't...Zav helped me. Are you sick?" She frowned. There was definitely something wrong with him. 

"Me? I'm fine. Just, fiiiine. Listen, I didn't predict you would call for me tonight, and your Uncle Fanathar has been having a great evening so far, soooo…..Wait, who's Zav? That's not a boyfriend, is it?"

"What? No! Zavion's my brother!" She couldn't see what his having a good time had to do with him acting ill. 

"Br-brwhat?" He stares at her. His voice sounds like he's trying very hard to hold things together. "How...How long has it been since I last saw you?" 

"Seventeen years. Why? Oh. Um. I guess you don't know about Azani. He's nice. He's also a Human." 

Fanathar wheezes and starts patting himself down. 

"I am getting dangerously close to becoming sober and there is no way I can deal with this kind of news in such a state. Start talking, and I'll keep drinking." He pulls out a small flask and takes a deep swig, then looks at her expectantly. "I can't help but notice you're not talking." 

"I guess...I'm the reason Azani ended up here. I found him not too far from here, dying…"

He listened rather patiently as she told the story, what little there was. At the end he gave a great sigh, looked like he was going to say something, and took another drink instead. 

"Listen. I know that head of yours doesn't work things out the same as most Elves, so I'll tell you how this is going to go." 

Finally! Someone explaining what will happen! She leans forward eagerly.

"You're going to lead me back to your house, where a very big fuss will be made at the both of us. Fortunately for you, Fenna will be far more irate at me so you won't be feeling nearly the amount of heat as you would otherwise. You're welcome." He salutes her with his flask and takes another sip. 

"Your step father seems a decent sort, so he'll probably be more entertained at all this than anything, especially since I don't plan on giving anyone a hard time about their life choices. Your brother also seems to have a good head on his shoulders, so he won't be a problem. Your mother, though…" He swipes at his face. "I'll have to work at her, but she'll give in, because she knows it's what's best for you, truly. Speaking of." He gives her a stern look. "You are not going to say that you were ready to just run off with no warning, because that would hurt Fenna badly, and probably your step father too."

Her throat burned nearly as badly as her arm all of a sudden, and her eyes started watering even though she wasn't sure why.

"What you're feeling there is called "shame", and I know it well." He pauses, letting out a breath. "Here, you've had a long day, and I'm sure you hurt as if someone stabbed you in the arm a few thousand times. Take a small sip."

Hiccuping, she takes the flask from him and tosses it back as if it were water. Choking and eyes streaming even more, she sputters as he laughingly plucks the flask out of her hands. 

"What didn't you understand about "a sip"?"

"I was thirsty." She barely managed to wheeze a response. 

"You don't sate your thirst with this kind of drink. You'll be feeling that in a minute. Hah, now I'm really going to get it. In any case, once Fenna cools off, she'll pretend she's not upset, say goodbye, and I'll take you to Iluvatar." He lets out a long sigh. "You'll spend some time at the University before Grand Matriarch Ollani summons you to the family home. She won't be too patient, you'll probably only get a year to settle in before she starts making noise and you have to go face that old dragon down. Figurative speaking there, I don't expect you to face her down, she's on another level."

Blinking a few times, she starts to wonder how useful his explanation actually is. 

"What about you?"

"Uuuuugh, what about me? I'll probably have to try behaving myself at least a little bit, just while you're at the University. I expect you to learn all you need in record time, mind you, since I'm not known for my sober bearing. And of course I'd bring you home to visit your mother, which means she'd have to put up with seeing me more, so we all would be making sacrifices here." 

He smiles blearily and staggers to his feet, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Corco. I do think you're doing the right thing by getting trained. Magic is...Hah. I am an utter hypocrite here, but it's truly a pity to waste it, and letting it shrivel up and die would leave you feeling the lack for the rest of your life. Alright, let's go surprise everyone. I am the gift that keeps giving after all."

Their gazes meet, both understanding the other on a level she never felt before. Nodding, she leads him to their home that seems precious to her now that she knows she'll leave it soon. 

***

It turns out that they don't leave for several days, although her mother actually admitted defeat the first evening. Fanathar's prediction about him taking the attention off of her was a true one, especially after she had hiccuped a couple of times and her mother realized what she had drunk. Apparently whiskey wasn't an appropriate drink for young girls, or for teleporting Sorcerers. 

Azani looked concerned at first, but the more time her mother spent fussing the more bemused he looked. Zavion was also uncertain at first with the appearance of a strange new Elf making a late appearance in their home, but was won over when Fanathar gave him a bleary look and proclaimed him a bright looking lad, and could he fetch the mugs since this seemed like a good opportunity for a celebration. 

When her mother had given him a dangerous look and asked why exactly they're celebrating, he had blithely announced because Corco has obviously matured into being a mage, and therefore will be welcomed into the family tradition of attending the University in their home city and be educated on the finer points of lighting people on fire, or transforming them into toads, or wherever her inclinations may lay. 

Zav looked thrilled that someone else was able to make their mother get that look on her face besides him while Azani did his best to calm her down. Eventually they were sent to their room to rest for the night. Zav agreed that it was more likely that the adults just wanted them out of their way while they argued. They tried talking about what was going to happen, but their day had been exhausting and sooner than either liked they dropped off into trance. 

Coming to consciousness before her brother was a normal occurrence. He didn't exactly sleep like his father, but his rest lasted much longer than herself or her mother's. Normally she spent the rest of the dark hours reading, or just thinking about things, but she could still hear voices in the kitchen so she quietly left the bedroom, softly shutting the door behind her.

The table had a couple of empty bottles on it as well as Azani's head, resting on his folded up arms. Her mother and Fanathar seemed to have hit a resolution, either from working things out or lack of energy to argue any more, she couldn't tell. Padding over to her mother, she hops onto her lap and rests her head on her shoulder.

"Are you all still up?"

Her mother absentmindedly rubs her back while her father groans.

"Not for much longer. It's been a while since I tried keeping up with a hooligan. It's a good thing nothing urgent needs to be done tomorrow, because I'm going to feel this." He heaves himself up from the table and walks around to place a kiss on her mother's head, and stroke her own hair. "Evening, Fanathar. See you tomorrow. Come to bed soon, Fenna. I'll warm it up for you."

Her Uncle flaps his hand at him and makes a somewhat agreeable noise while her mother leans her head against her father's trailing hand before he walks to his bedroom and closes the door. She feels her mother's chest rise and fall with a sigh.

"Well well Fenna, it looks like-" 

Her mother interrupts him, sounding tired.

"Fanathar, I know-"

"-like you've managed to find happiness again. Good for you."

Her mother stills, and lets out a long sigh, lowering her head. Corco can see her Uncle's expression is a blend of a self deprecating smile and a meld of complex emotions she can't place.

"Honestly sister, who am I to judge? Besides, judging from the existence of your boy, hormones had some say in the matter. Still, how unusual for him to stick around after. He seems truly exceptional-"

"He is."

"-to want to put up with living with you willingly. I know I lasted what, a week?" Laughing, he deflected the empty mug her mother shoved across the table at him. "We all know nothing is guaranteed, not even time to the likes of us. Ugh, I'm starting to sound like one of the Forlorn. That's a sign I need to pass out for the rest of the night." 

"You can rest in my nook, Uncle. I won't need it." 

He wobbles to an upright stance and bows with a flourish. 

"Much obliged! While it wouldn't be the first time I've snuggled up with someone's husband, I wasn't planning on starting that with family. Far too close to being incestuous, and that's one direction at least I'm not so depraved that I'd go there."

Her mother shakes her head at her brother's antics then makes a muffled noise like she regretted it.

"Get out of my sight, brother. Tomorrow will be more than soon enough to interact with you again." 

He deigns to leave without responding aside from pulling an affronted face, and leaves the two of them alone. They stay quiet for a while, the way they sometimes do when it's just the two of them awake in the small hours of the night. 

"It's going to be hard for you. It won't be like the Human city we were at, but still, it won't be like here." 

She nods her head, secure in her mother's arms. 

"It's a beautiful place though, and you should see it. You'll do so well there, I know it. I'll miss you while you're gone though, my daughter."

"I'll miss you too, Ma'mae. And Azani and Zav, too." Her voice is a whisper, loathe to break the peaceful quiet between them. She feels her mother sigh softly again.

"Still, as Fanathar pointed out, he'll be nearby to you, which means as long as he's sober enough he can bring you home to visit. Your brother will be expecting you to bring him a library, I'm guessing." She feels her mother smile into her hair. "I think that's the only reason he's so eager to see you go, the foolish boy. He won't know what to do with himself with you gone. Probably visit Riddleport with Azani more often. He's not quite like us, he enjoys being around people. He's good, like Azani." 

She nods her head again, feeling the truth of her mother's words. She always knew they were different, even from other Elves. 

"I hope one day you find someone who is good for you. Our family... It's easy for us to lose track of what's important, and happiness is very important, especially when you live so long... That's why I won't stand in your way even though it means you leaving us. There's no surety that going to the University will make you happy, although I suspect it will, but I know that stifling you would absolutely make you unhappy. And one day maybe...Hm. Or who knows? Maybe your brother will be able to teach you." Judging from her fractured thoughts, it was past time she went to rest. She gives Corco a squeeze and slides her off her lap, joining her husband in their room. 

Corco stands a moment, thinking about the differences between her mother and uncle, and the deep unhappiness that her uncle struggled with. Her mother struggled too, she knew, but it seemed soothed or at least manageable with Azani and Zavion with her. It's strange to know that she was more of an emotional burden on her mother than her brother ever was, even as an infant. 

She began cleaning off the table, putting mugs in the sink and rinsing out empty bottles for reuse. While she washed she thought to herself how her mother's methods seem to be more long lasting than her uncle's, although it might be just her limited exposure that made it seem so. In any case, this was her life that she was in charge of now, and she had to be the one making her own choices when it comes to herself. But she would watch, and listen, and learn.

***

Her mother was right, Iadara wasn't like Riddleport, and at the same time it was. The Teleportation room was open, airy and filled with diffused light. At first she thought it was like the only other Teleportation chamber she had seen, filled with arching stonework pillars. She quickly realized though that it was so much larger, and the stone was actually gigantic trees, smooth barked and gently curving to an apex in the center of the room. The sounds were gentle, muffled by the organic nature of the structure. In a bizarre echo of the past, a man comes up to her uncle, recognizing him on sight and jabbering at him. This time though she's standing on her own power, and understands what's being said.

"Fanathar! Don't tell me this is one of yours! You can't possibly have settled down, you'd break too many hearts!" Her uncle smiles genially in response as he clasps hands with the man. She doesn't see a bribe pass hands, but they might just be good at concealing it.

"Devanien, great to see you again, we'll have to get some drinks later! This is my niece, Corco." The Elf's eyebrows shot up. 

"From the lost sister? Well she's certainly got the family stamp on her. Bringing her into the family fold?" He starts walking them to a massive arched doorway that lay open ahead of them.

"More like the family tradition, she's going to be attending magical studies." 

Devanian looks impressed.

"At such a young age? Well your line always was precocious if I remember right. In any case, you know where to go, I'll catch up with you in a few days since it looks like you're sticking around for a bit this time." With that he waves them off and turns back into the chamber, leaving them to make their way forward. 

Corco paces beside her uncle, looking at him through the side of her eye. He catches her look and grins.

"Wondering if I know everyone at every place I travel? Almost! I travel a lot, and Teleportation chambers are like...Magical anchor points. They're good to aim for, and once you've been to one it's easy to get back to, so it's a good idea to get to know the resident caretakers. Also good to know what each one's weakness is. Riddleport is hard cash bribes, by contrast Iadara frowns on such a crass method of bribery, most of the guardians here prefer getting wooed a bit with some gossip and maybe a small gift. Of course I tend to drink with all of them, but that's just me. Ah here we go. This building will be your home for the next few years, they prefer keeping a tight watch on new students for a few months for obvious reasons, so you won't be seeing much of the city proper until then. If you need to get a hold of me, request a message for me at the carrier station. Each of the major families as well as each city district has its own messenger birds. Oh that reminds me, money. Here."

He plunks a small money pouch into her hand.

"You won't need for much but coin can come in handy, and you'll need a few to send a message." 

She blinks at the sudden weight in her hand, then affixes the pouch to her belt as they continue walking. Belatedly, she looks up at him and mutters.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, and my, do you learn fast. Your teachers have their work cut out for them."

She frowned and checked to see if he was mocking her, but he seemed sincere. It didn't take much longer after that before he led her to a room with a smaller arched doorway this time. It was difficult for her to grasp that they had been walking all that time and were still inside a building. A warm building, a living one, much like her home except on an ancient and massive scale.

Her uncle knocked on the doorway and entered the room of a pale Elf sitting behind a desk that had stacks of papers piled up in some kind of order. The main thing that struck her though was the floor to ceiling shelves that were covered with books. It was boggling, although the two adults didn't seem to even notice. Well, one presumably saw this room every day, but still, she didn't understand how her uncle could stay so composed. The person introduced themselves as Lyre, and they were the collegium's Secretary. Her uncle introduced them, and Lyre looked her over assessingly. They then asked her a series of questions about utterly random things, most of which she didn't know anything about which vexed her greatly when she had to keep answering "I don't know." She was left blinking when they suddenly pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing while speaking to her uncle.

"Naturally inquisitive, no bad habits to unlearn, quick mind, bad temper, and logical methodology. She is as much a Wizard standing here today as you were a Sorcerer, Fanathar. Here is a list of classes and their locations that will be useful to you, as well as the course books. You can test out of any class at any time by requesting a final exam for it, but I recommend you take your time to learn what each class has to offer, seeing as how failing it does a student no good, since the goal here is to attain knowledge over their particular style of magic. Have a good day, and I look forward to seeing you succeed." 

With that they pushed the papers to her and went back to their work, dismissing the both of them. Taken aback, she looks to her uncle who grins again at her and hands her the pages, then leads her out of the room. 

"I'll show you to your common room, there's a den guardian that tends the new students there. You'll have a uniform now, robes like everyone else. They'll let you know when meals are, and where to find things like your classes, food, and the library."

They walk a while, up a flight of stairs that are lit with small glowing statues carved from wood. She looks over the notes then at her uncle's profile.

"How long were you here?"

"Me? Hah, I was a rotten student. Nearly fifteen years, but a lot of that was just taking advantage of being away from home. You though, I'd be surprised if it takes you five years to learn the basics. Depends on if you get distracted."

She frowns at him. 

"Distracted by what?" 

He grins down at her. 

"Boys, or possibly girls, for one thing. You're a bit young yet but you're getting to the point where you'll find out where your preferences lay, and there's an entire tower of students going through the same thing. Which is why I'll be leaving here right away, I do have standards, as amazing a revelation as that may be to you."

They were standing outside the common room entrance that she was assigned, and she looks up.

"Uncle Fanathar, thank you. For everything." 

She gets one of the rare genuine smiles from him and he leans down to give her a quick hug. 

"Alright, remember what I told you, and try not to murder anyone even if you think they deserve it."

He steps back and speaks a word, and is gone. She looks at the doorway to the next stage in her life, takes a deep breath, and steps through.


End file.
